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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. We've got to handle this with ________________ gloves.
  2. I had chicken pox when I was a ________________.
  3. Hold the papers together with a ________________.
  4. The water is too ________________.
  5. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. You shouldn't ________________ things.
  8. How can I extract the audio from a video ________________?
  9. It is only in accepting others that we can ________________ down our own barriers.
  10. ________________ my words: he'll be late again.
  11. That must've been a ________________.
  12. I like to ________________ a cookie in coffee.
  13. Take your time. There's no ________________.
  14. It seems a cruel thing to ________________ a bird's wings.
  15. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  16. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  17. I cannot shed a ________________ for that horrible man.
  18. Don't ________________ yourself. You couldn't afford to buy a house like this.
  19. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  20. She got the top ________________ in the exam.
  21. The hot cup left a ________________ on the table.
  22. Drying a ________________ is more honorable than shedding torrents of blood.
  23. They watched the sun ________________ below the horizon.
  24. The ________________ was so hot, it burned my tongue.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. kid — young goat (kid gloves)
  2. kid — child
  3. clip — for paper
  4. cold — not warm
  5. cold — the Cold War
  6. cold — an illness
  7. rush — to hurry
  8. clip — a video
  9. tear — to rip
  10. mark — to pay attention
  11. rush — a thrill
  12. dip — to dunk
  13. rush — hurry
  14. clip — to cut
  15. bark — a dog's sound
  16. bark — to shout
  17. tear — from crying
  18. kid — to tease
  19. bark — of a tree
  20. mark — a grade
  21. mark — a trace
  22. tear — from crying
  23. dip — to sink
  24. dip — a sauce

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com